Review: Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman

The Danes is a band made up of four musicians fronted by Philip Tonka, piano player. They are approached by the military to embark on a mission to Africa to track a sound that renders weapons useless and causes horrendous physical reactions such as hallucinations, inability to speak and vomiting. But hey, $100,000 for 2 weeks work? Who care about the potential side effects and the unknown! This story follows Philip's story in his search for the source and alternates chapters to him in a hospital, waking up from a six month coma to find he's broken every.single.bone.in.his.body. Ellen is his nurse and finds a connection to Philip and suspects the hospital may not be exactly what it should be. How far will she compromise herself to try and save him?

Josh Malerman is the kind of sensory psychological horror. He used the "loss of sight" in Bird Box and this time uses sound/music/hearing for this one. He has a very distinct writing style and pulls you into the story, building his world leaving you wondering what is going on for most of the book waiting til the tail end to give you answers (ish). While I did love the premise to this story and was fascinated by what this sound could be and what they would find if they found it, the ending was a bit abrupt.... we get answers in this one but, and it's probably a personal preference, but I wasn't thrilled with where this one fell. If you've read this book, PLEASE come chat with me! There was a lot I did like in the story line - references to the flatfish, the creepy feeling (though not as creepy as Bird Box) of the unknown, music, etc. While I "complained" about the arbitrary ending of the Bird Box and needing answers, this time I got them and I wish I hadn't... Ahhhh.. win some, lose some. SO much more I'd like to say but I'd enter spoiler territory and well I keep hearing "I wouldn't do that if I were you." ... so I refuse to touch that key. ;)